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ISO: ISO: Tamarind...I can buy the pods but have no idea how to make pulp or juice from them. I want to
- Thread starter curious1
- Start date
In Search Of:
I googled and here's what I came up with:>>>>>>>Have fun!
To make tamarind paste at home, combine 1/4 cup warm water for every 1 ½ tablespoons of tamarind pulp with seeds. Soak the pulp in the water until soft, from 5 to 15 minutes. With your fingers, rub the pulp until dissolved and the seeds are free of pulp. Strain and discard the seeds and fibers. Use this mixture as is or boil it gently until it takes on a thicker paste-like consistency.
To make tamarind paste at home, combine 1/4 cup warm water for every 1 ½ tablespoons of tamarind pulp with seeds. Soak the pulp in the water until soft, from 5 to 15 minutes. With your fingers, rub the pulp until dissolved and the seeds are free of pulp. Strain and discard the seeds and fibers. Use this mixture as is or boil it gently until it takes on a thicker paste-like consistency.
Question answered, I think the pods I see in the store are a different kind of tamarind, sweet
instead of sour. Took a lot of googling to get that info. I wondered why my white bread Publix had so much tamarind....
http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/ingredients/tamarind.html
instead of sour. Took a lot of googling to get that info. I wondered why my white bread Publix had so much tamarind....
http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/ingredients/tamarind.html
C, I saw them at our publix and the manager told me folks use them in hot pepper sauces. So I though
they would be the sour ones?
It piqued my curiousity because I'd only seen them in Oriental stores and there certainly aren't enough Oriental restaurants in our area to justify the large quantity he carried.
they would be the sour ones?
It piqued my curiousity because I'd only seen them in Oriental stores and there certainly aren't enough Oriental restaurants in our area to justify the large quantity he carried.
The first time I used the fresh tamarind off the tree was on the island of Fernando de Narohna (sp)
a small island off the coast of Brazil. We had anchored there after catching a bird. We were trolling hoping to catch a tuna and this huge bird swept down grabbed the spinner and flew off. What to do...bird at the end of the line high in the sky, yacht with sails up, sailing and line attached. We reeled the poor bird in and with much ado, towels and gloves got him unhooked.
The whole fiasco must have been quite hilarious to the locals bobbing away in their small boat as they came up after we had anchored and spoke in foreign tongue with much laughter.
Anyway with our teenager daughters on board we all soon became friends with this group of young lads.
Two of them took us on a tour of this island to see the turtle nesting ground...it was many miles of walking, some miles of busing and a surprising small farm in the middle of no-where, where we got to pick okra, various fruit and tamarind pods.
Yes, we finally got to the beach where the turtles were laying but did not actually see any!!! The outing was very special as apparently almost no visitors ever get to that very private island part at all.
One of the lads was very gay, a lovely gentle chap whose only English was "tank yew, tank yew" with a limped waggle of the wrist as he said it. Just a delightful young lad.
He was also a superb cook and he showed me (sort of) how to use these tamarind pods.
A couple days into our stay there we took all 6 young lads on the yacht to the Bay of Dolphins, a deep, half moon bay with a wide, fine, white-sand beach.
The narrow opening to the bay had a large underwater crop of rocks where the boys went diving and came back with rock cod which "Shandorka" proceeded to cook.
He asked for salt...eventually it was every bit of salt I had on the yacht (did not know when we would reach land with shops to buy more.)
He made a thick crust for each fish with the salt and laid them on the deck to dry.
Then he peeled the tamarind pods and squished the fruit in water and went into my spice locker and grunted a lot...remember none of us had a common language...what else he added I have no idea but the result was a deliciouse sweet/tart flavoured sauce.
In the meantime we sat on deck with one of the lads serenading us on the deck, playing his guitar and us drinking every last drop of beer we had on board (not much to begin with anyway, but we thought enough to last the next 2 weeks at least before we sailed into Forteleza.)
Shandorka decided we should have "bolo" for dessert...this turned out to be cake, a plain sort of sponge cake, he used no recipe but every bowl and other utensil he could find in my small galley.
Never forget that the galley is small so I could not always be nearby to see what he did...and the place became messier and messier...
4 large cakes later, (no icing ever put on the cakes apparently),
amazingly tender and tasty fish with the salt crust removed taking the skin with it,
a wonderful tamarind sauce for the fish,
beer and cervaca (sp)....
As evenign drew near we lolled lazily on deck watching as a whole huge school of dolphins crossed the opening of this bay, so close to the yacht it took our breath away...
Now this was not the usual sight of dolphins as these were "spin-tailed' dolphins. They literally stand on their tails and spin with joy.
I can not tell you the awsome time this whole event was.....
The sun lowered, this chap playing his guitar, the strange and delicious meal...and the mess in the galley....
wow!
a small island off the coast of Brazil. We had anchored there after catching a bird. We were trolling hoping to catch a tuna and this huge bird swept down grabbed the spinner and flew off. What to do...bird at the end of the line high in the sky, yacht with sails up, sailing and line attached. We reeled the poor bird in and with much ado, towels and gloves got him unhooked.
The whole fiasco must have been quite hilarious to the locals bobbing away in their small boat as they came up after we had anchored and spoke in foreign tongue with much laughter.
Anyway with our teenager daughters on board we all soon became friends with this group of young lads.
Two of them took us on a tour of this island to see the turtle nesting ground...it was many miles of walking, some miles of busing and a surprising small farm in the middle of no-where, where we got to pick okra, various fruit and tamarind pods.
Yes, we finally got to the beach where the turtles were laying but did not actually see any!!! The outing was very special as apparently almost no visitors ever get to that very private island part at all.
One of the lads was very gay, a lovely gentle chap whose only English was "tank yew, tank yew" with a limped waggle of the wrist as he said it. Just a delightful young lad.
He was also a superb cook and he showed me (sort of) how to use these tamarind pods.
A couple days into our stay there we took all 6 young lads on the yacht to the Bay of Dolphins, a deep, half moon bay with a wide, fine, white-sand beach.
The narrow opening to the bay had a large underwater crop of rocks where the boys went diving and came back with rock cod which "Shandorka" proceeded to cook.
He asked for salt...eventually it was every bit of salt I had on the yacht (did not know when we would reach land with shops to buy more.)
He made a thick crust for each fish with the salt and laid them on the deck to dry.
Then he peeled the tamarind pods and squished the fruit in water and went into my spice locker and grunted a lot...remember none of us had a common language...what else he added I have no idea but the result was a deliciouse sweet/tart flavoured sauce.
In the meantime we sat on deck with one of the lads serenading us on the deck, playing his guitar and us drinking every last drop of beer we had on board (not much to begin with anyway, but we thought enough to last the next 2 weeks at least before we sailed into Forteleza.)
Shandorka decided we should have "bolo" for dessert...this turned out to be cake, a plain sort of sponge cake, he used no recipe but every bowl and other utensil he could find in my small galley.
Never forget that the galley is small so I could not always be nearby to see what he did...and the place became messier and messier...
4 large cakes later, (no icing ever put on the cakes apparently),
amazingly tender and tasty fish with the salt crust removed taking the skin with it,
a wonderful tamarind sauce for the fish,
beer and cervaca (sp)....
As evenign drew near we lolled lazily on deck watching as a whole huge school of dolphins crossed the opening of this bay, so close to the yacht it took our breath away...
Now this was not the usual sight of dolphins as these were "spin-tailed' dolphins. They literally stand on their tails and spin with joy.
I can not tell you the awsome time this whole event was.....
The sun lowered, this chap playing his guitar, the strange and delicious meal...and the mess in the galley....
wow!
Oh we are Curious, I now pick these pods from which ever tree I can stop next too ....
here on island and make the paste by peeling and deseeding the gooey stuff, adding water and cooking back. I don't do it often as we have so many West Indians here that all stores carry jars, blocks or even packets of the pods ....tamrind sauce/paste/blocks come in all different ways. I generally go for a spice jar of paste that comes from India. It scoops out the jar nicely and is the right flavour for what I cook with it....no particular recipe but just any Thai or Indian dish I happen to want to make.
here on island and make the paste by peeling and deseeding the gooey stuff, adding water and cooking back. I don't do it often as we have so many West Indians here that all stores carry jars, blocks or even packets of the pods ....tamrind sauce/paste/blocks come in all different ways. I generally go for a spice jar of paste that comes from India. It scoops out the jar nicely and is the right flavour for what I cook with it....no particular recipe but just any Thai or Indian dish I happen to want to make.